What a great party but the guests piddled in the punch just before leaving and CD Tenerife have a tricky task as they take a 3-1 home lead to Hospitalet next Sunday. Fans and players can be proud of the spectacle they produced as the Group One champions picked off their visitors only to be pegged back by a late away goal that gives Hospitalet hope.
The greeting for Tenerife was inspiring with the 16,546 crowd producing a wall of sound from the warm up and as the tifo flowed and flares billowed smoke, Hospitalet and their meagre support must have felt overwhelmed. Coach Alvaro showed loyalty to central defenders Rigo and Bruno despite a shaky game last week and they rewarded him with a sturdy display against a side with some genuine pace up front. Rigo made a strong decisive clearance in the first ten minutes and with Sergio Aragoneses back in goal the confidence spread. Loro was at his best after 11 minutes to open the scoring with a superbly flighted free kick over the wall and past the diving keeper.
Bacari was nippy up front for the visitors but Rigo and Bruno wouldn’t let him pass and 21 goal Cirio was hounded by Moyano when he broke down the left. Hospitalet got their chance when the Tenerife marking was a bit slack but Sergio charged out of his goal to mop up the potential shot. It was all good stuff and every home charge brought an even louder roar from the crowd.
Chechu was struggling to make an impact and skied a decent chance early in the second half but he was about to be given a lesson in forward play from an unlikely source, left back Llorente. The pony tailed defender weaved inside two defenders with ease and let loose a screaming shot that was just a blur to Craviotto in goal. It was one way traffic but Hospitalet made a double substitution and it briefly revived them. Osado fresh off the bench set off on a run, Moyano closed him down well and snuffed out the danger. Suso had been struggling for fitness in the week but replacing Chechu he set about testing the opposition down the right wing.
Medina and Ayoze soon followed onto the park in place of Alberto and Loro but it was the defensive Medina who grabbed the third goal. As Tenerife appealed for a blatant hand ball and penalty the ball broke out to Medina just outside the box and he picked his spot like an expert to leave the keeper floundering. Ayoze had an overhead kick that just cleared the bar and we were dreaming of a routine second leg but with a couple of minutes left Osado latched onto a half chance and belted the ball past Sergio to stop the runaway Tenerife train. It was a performance worthy of promotion but the away goal means a 2-0 win would shade it for Hospitalet. One more challenge, hopefully even the plastic pitch in Barcelona wont stop Tenerife in this form.